Could Sonny Styles be the next Fred Warner?
Yahoo Sports' Nate Tice and Charles McDonald examine the draft stock of the Ohio State inside linebacker and explain why he could be rare find in this year's class. Check out the full conversation on “Football 301” - and subscribe on Apple Podcasts , Spotify , YouTube or wherever you listen.
Video Transcript
I- if Sonny is who we think he is, and I, I mean, I, I think he's, like, a pretty clear, for me, like, prospect that could be, like, a high-end, like, Pro Bowl-level linebacker, off the ball.
Is he more valuable because, like, this is gonna be something that no one else has?
Like, literally, if, if he can end up that ceiling, like, being as good as or, or in the realm of, say, like, a Fred Warner type, that is, is int- interesting, like, wrench to throw into the draft evaluation because w- w- maybe part of the reason why we view linebackers so low sometimes is because we haven't had, like, one of those guys who can do everything, or maybe guys haven't panned out in the way we thought.
But if he can be that man, like, that ends up being something that maybe one other team has right now, and it's gonna be on the backside of already coming off of an injury.
I mean, if you have the best linebacker in the league, especially with how offensive play today, I just feel like that'd be, you know, such a valuable weapon.
And I think that that, along with not the strongest class at the top, could get him drafted to the top five, which is something you don't really see, from, like, inside linebackers or off-ball linebacker prospects.
It's the last one had to be, like, Roquan Smith, right?
Had to be.
He was up there.
Devin Bush got drafted high.
Takoha?
Devin Bush did too, yes.
I'm trying to think, Tuft- yeah, and then I'm trying to think else, who else got drafted high.
I mean, Keku was a long while ago.
But those are- Yeah ones that come to mind at least for me.
A long time ago.
That's, yeah, exactly.
There just hasn't really been candidates for it.
You know?
Right.
The styles is different, and this is the perfect draft class to have a, have a, you know, just because the lack of, quote-unquote, "premium positions."
I'll just say offensive positions, quarterbacks, receivers, tackles, or even corners and edges.
Like, the edges are all good to very good, but maybe not that true blue chip guys.
Like, they all have so many blemishes, so it's kinda that perfect class that a li- off-ball player might get drafted high.
yeah, I was, I've been thinking a lot on this, and you've touched on it before about that kinda, like, if there's not a lot out there that can be not just, just play, but also just be good or a standard deviation above, you know, that's what replacement level matters.
You know, how much better are you than you, the replacement level or the average player at that position?
baseball does this same with war and WAA, and I think with, you know, with football, I, I think about that a lot with Fred Warner.
It's like, shouldn't that be valued more because he's the one guy that actually is a game changer at that position, and the guys that are, can even just be good at the position are just so much Like, you could feel their impact on the game.
I also think about just where the stresses are of where, how defenses are playing.
You know, if you play more too high, the stresses get put on the nickel.
That's why we see so many slot guys now, kinda being stars.
but also on the off-ball linebackers 'cause they have to be two-way players, and same with the safeties a little bit as well.
and so I think about that all the time because that's what the foreigners wanna play, and that's why Fred Warner, 'cause Fred Warner can do it, it, it works really well.
And, like, even the Jets under Sala had two pretty solid linebackers in Mosley, even though he wasn't the, the best, but also Quincy Williams.
They kinda just had a nice pair there that could make, make it work
